Chiddingfold honours inspirational villager

Chiddingfold Parish Council chairman, Christine Tebbot, with Harold Mullard, recipient of the Chairman’s Award for Voluntary Service 2009

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A SPECIAL award for many years of outstanding service to Chiddingfold has been made by the parish council to villager Harold Mullard.

“On a personal note I would not have been able to do this job without his guidance,” said the chairman, Christine Tebbot, as she presented the Chairman’s Award for Voluntary Service 2009 to Mr Mullard at the parish assembly.

“He is the fount of all knowledge," she added.

Mr Mullard was born in the village in 1923 and except for three months living in Hambledon as a young man, he has lived in Chiddingfold all his life.

His remarkable record of voluntary service in the village started during the post-war years.

Firstly in 1948, he helped to restart Chiddingfold Horticultural Society and in the early 1950s he and his wife Margot joined the Bonfire Charities Association to re-launch the annual village event and set it on a sound financial footing.

He is still involved with the bonfire, now one of the biggest and best known in the county. After retiring from active service in 1996, he was made life president.

A former pupil of the village school, St Mary’s, he served as governor for many years until he retired in 1997 and helped to save it as a first school in 1974.

He also played a key part in its successful bid to become a primary school in 1993, and in recognition of his efforts a new school building was named in his honour in 1996.

Mr Mullard became a parish councillor in 1964 and served the council continuously for 35 years, with 18 years as chairman, until he retired in 1999.

He was instrumental in buying land at Combe Common for an additional recreation ground, getting the designation of conservation area for the historic village centre and rebuilding the village hall.

His greatest village achievement, however, was preventing a 1960s move by Surrey and West Sussex to make the A283 a major traffic route.

“It would have made Chiddingfold a very different village from the one we know today,” said Ms Tebbot.

“For this legacy alone we owe Harold a huge debt of thanks. Throughout his life in Chiddingfold he has served our community with commitment, energy and tenacity.

“In his own words, he has been ‘a fighter for everything’.”

Accepting the award as a “great honour”, Mr Mullard said he would not have been able to do what he had done for the village he loves without a great deal of help from many other fellow residents.

He also revealed there had been another major threat to Chiddingfold in years gone by.

“When it was exploring for oil, Conoco wanted to put a rig right in the middle of the village green,” he said.

“I strongly objected and it never happened, but I pass on a little word of warning.”